00:00An unauthorized person climbing the Statue of Liberty at this time.
00:05You saw that clown yesterday on the Statue of Liberty?
00:08When they go low, we go high, and I went as high as I could.
00:13Her perch some 150 feet off the ground.
00:17NYPD watching this closely as their helicopter hovers above.
00:21There were choppers. I wasn't sure who they were and what they were doing.
00:25We knew someone was climbing the statue, but we had no idea it was Patricia.
00:30It's a woman that's there. They're trying to talk her down.
00:33Protesting the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant kids from their parents.
00:38America! You mother****! You KKK! You fascist USA!
00:44She was just waving to the crowd. She wouldn't come down.
00:49No child belongs in a king.
00:51Toying with police for nearly four hours. NYPD pulling out all the stops here.
00:58My name is Patricia Okumu. I'm the woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July.
01:03An unidentified woman managing to scale Lady Liberty amid heightened security for the holiday and refusing to leave.
01:27There's a saying that goes like, when immigrants are under attack, stand up, fight back.
01:42I don't get that all the time.
01:44I don't feel like as a nation we are fighting for black women.
01:48I was born and raised from the Republic of Congo.
01:50I arrived in the U.S. on August 2nd, 1994.
01:55I pretty much spent most of my life here, my dog life, in the U.S.
01:59I didn't come here with a family member or to a family member.
02:03I came here on my own and I've been alone overseas without family.
02:07When people talk about the path to citizenship, it really does not exist.
02:12I came here with a visitor visa, which means I was allowed to be in the country for six months.
02:20And then I was expected to return back to my country, but I did not.
02:24So that made me an illegal alien.
02:26I put it in quotes, illegal alien, because I don't like the terms.
02:30When we call people illegal, we imply that they're criminals.
02:34It's not our fault that we don't have the documentation.
02:38It's this problem with the immigration system.
02:44Unfortunately, I went on living here in the U.S. for years without a valid social security card.
02:50I believe around 2010, I came to learn about the U visa, which was not available.
02:57It didn't exist at the time.
02:59It turns out the U visa was a provision for victims of crimes, such as domestic violence.
03:05And I had been a victim of domestic violence.
03:07It required that you have to have cooperated with the police officers, the DA office, in order to qualify for that status.
03:17So when I was a victim of domestic violence, I had to identify my perpetrator.
03:22I would say years prior to me becoming the activist that you know me today.
03:33What made me become an activist for real was the Trump administration, his election victory.
03:40The next day, I just started going to Trump Tower.
03:43I remember seeing this UPS truck, and I said, can I have that cardboard, please?
03:48And I wrote down in big letters, not my president.
03:52I was always watching the news and following what was going on with the country.
03:56But it seems like that wasn't enough.
03:58I needed to do something more than that.
04:00At the time, I was a part-time personal trainer.
04:04I would work 5.30 in the morning.
04:06That's when I saw my first client around 10.30, 11.
04:10Went back home to Staten Island, catch the ferry to Staten Island, have dinner, take a shower,
04:17and then went back to the city, to the Trump Tower, to put in three and a half hours to four hours.
04:23There was a lot of tourists there, a lot of people that walked by,
04:26and I would have my son up there, take photos.
04:29I felt empowered.
04:30I felt like I was contributing to something bigger than myself.
04:34I joined Rise and Resist on April 10 of that year.
04:39I have been to many events before, rallies and marches,
04:43but it was the first time I actually belonged to a group.
04:46I've never been to Liberty Island, even though I reside right there on Staten Island.
04:51A few weeks before the 4th of July, I think I suggested the Staten Island Ferry,
04:56because there's a lot of people there.
04:58But the group wanted us to be on Liberty Island.
05:01So you see us on the ground with T-shirts lettering, Abolish ICE.
05:07So that was the plan as far as the group was concerned.
05:11But I took it upon myself without discussing this idea with anybody to go and check out what's going on up there.
05:19I have had an idea that I should probably climb the Statue of Liberty to make a bigger statement.
05:26It was the 4th of July.
05:27There were children in cages.
05:29I say it was a spur of the moment, because it was.
05:32I had not done my research like normally you would do.
05:35Was it going to be windy, raining, all of that?
05:39All I wanted to do is have a conversation with God.
05:43Is this what you really want me to do?
05:44Just show me how to get up there.
05:46Then I would do that.
05:47I would climb the Statue of Liberty.
05:49On this Independence Day, a stunning security breach at the Statue of Liberty.
05:54I did not have any harness.
05:56I climbed there just using my spiritual strength and physical body.
06:00Someone has actually climbed the statue and is now positioned near the base.
06:04They would tell you on the news, they came to rescue me.
06:08If I made it up there, I knew how to come down.
06:10I was not a kitten that got stuck on the tree.
06:13It was important for me that if they were going to approach me, they were not going to escalate the situation.
06:19Because I wouldn't stand for that.
06:20I'm not just a type that would be intimidated because you're wearing a uniform.
06:25So every time you saw me moving back and forth, it was just to make sure they were not doing anything funny.
06:30When I came and checked on him one of those times to see what he was doing, if he had his hands where I could see them,
06:38I see all those ropes coming down through the window.
06:41I say, so what's the plan?
06:44Plan A is for you to come down on your own.
06:47Plan B, he say, it's for us to come and get you.
06:51I say, and plan C?
06:52He say, there's no plan C.
06:53So, you know, we had been there for so long, and I feel sorry for the way they were standing there for so long that I said,
07:02okay, fine, do whatever you want to do.
07:03You know, at first we grabbed her.
07:05She was being a little combative, and then we kind of got her to calm down.
07:08And, you know, we told her, we're just looking to get you down safely at that point.
07:11And she was willing to cooperate with us at that point.
07:14I remember I had a watch with me, and I checked.
07:17It was 325.
07:18By the time I was brought into custody, it was about 7 o'clock.
07:32December 17th was my trial.
07:35The judge found me guilty on all three counts, which were three misdemeanors.
07:41Each career centers of six months, a total of 18 months in prison.
07:44As far as I'm concerned, the criminal justice system is so corrupt.
07:52That's just the law we have.
07:53I'm here to expose the crooked system we have.
07:58You know, when I was at trial, I broke down because my heart is bleeding.
08:04We are better than this, America.
08:07We are better than this.
08:08We're talking about children.
08:10We're talking about cages.
08:11Those two don't go together.
08:14What scares me the most, it wasn't the height of the Statue of Liberty.
08:18It's the people that we can live with that.
08:23It still breaks my heart.
08:24I have nightmares about this.
08:26You saw that clown yesterday on the Statue of Liberty?
08:30You see the guys that went up there?
08:32I wouldn't have done it.
08:33I would have said, let's get some nets and let's wait till she comes down.
08:40Just get some nets.
08:41Well, I was glad to hear that because I have been wanting to get on the skin for a long time.
08:48The whole world was watching.
08:50Michelle Obama saw me and she was watching.
08:53I don't regret it.
08:54I'm in business.
08:55I didn't climb the Statue of Liberty for a stunt or a show.
08:58As an immigrant, a black woman, it was my way to fight back.
09:04And it got the world watching and listening to the inhumane way in which we're treating migrant children.
09:12We have to march.
09:13We have to rally.
09:15We have to knock on doors.
09:16We have to do the impossible.
09:18Every time I go out there in court and there's press, we're talking about the children,
09:24I'm smiling because I'm accomplishing my goal.
09:28We have to do the impossible.
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